5 Tips for Choosing Health Insurance Plans

When it comes to choosing health insurance plans most people would rather do just about anything than sort through the thousands of options available and try to figure out which health care plans offer affordable but thorough coverage. But if you’re willing to spend a little time and effort clarifying what you need from a health insurance plan and searching for low priced options you can save a lot of money on medical insurance plans. Here are 5 tips to help you choose from the thousands of health insurance plans that are out there:

1. Look locally – Even though companies all over the country can insure you where that company’s main office is located can impact the price of the coverage that they offer. Your best bet when it comes to finding local health insurance, which can be a lot cheaper, is to look on your state’s website. The state website should have an entire section devoted to insurance which will help you find a local, affordable health insurance plan.

2. Decide exactly how much coverage you need – Picking and choosing your coverage can make a big difference when it comes to price. If you really want to keep costs down then just get insurance to cover major illnesses, accidents, or other serious problems and pay for your routine visits and lab tests out of pocket. That will end up costing more at the time of the service but overall will cost you less.

3. Use an insurance broker –Just like using an insurance broker to compare many different auto insurance plans can save you a lot of money on your car insurance using an insurance broker to compare health insurance plans can save you a lot of money on your health insurance. If you are confused about health insurance plans and aren’t sure how to pick the right one for your then go through a broker to make sure that you get a good deal on the coverage you need.

4. Consider starting a Health Savings Account – If regular health insurance plans seem too expensive or if your are generally very healthy and just want to protect yourself in case of an emergency then you should think about starting a Health Savings Account instead of buying insurance. A Health Savings Account is money put aside specifically for health related problems. Many banks offer special interest rates and other perks for these types of accounts. Putting even a couple of hundred dollars in a Health Savings Account regularly can give you all the money you need to feel protected if you were to have a health emergency.

5. Ask for a free trial period – Many insurance companies will let you try out a health insurance plan for free but if your plan doesn’t offer a free trial ask for one. Most likely the free trial won’t be really free, you will still have to pay up front but if you don’t like the plan you can cancel it and get your money back. This is a good way to see how much coverage you really have and if you like the doctors that are approved by that particular company.